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For months, intimidating phone calls persisted. Originally, reportedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a retired army general, later from law enforcement directly. Finally, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh claims he was ordered to law enforcement headquarters and told clearly: remain silent or face serious consequences.

Shaikh is one of many fighting a multimillion-dollar project where this historic settlement – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – faces razed and redeveloped by a multinational conglomerate.

"The distinctive community of this area is like nowhere else in the planet," states the resident. "But they want to dismantle our way of life and prevent our protests."

Contrasting Realities

The narrow alleys of Dharavi present a dramatic difference to the towering buildings and Bollywood penthouses that overshadow the neighborhood. Homes are assembled randomly and often lacking adequate facilities, informal businesses produce dangerous fumes and the environment is filled with the unpleasant stench of exposed drainage.

For certain residents, the promise of the slum's redevelopment into a modern district of luxury high-rises, neat parks, contemporary malls and homes with multiple bathrooms is an aspirational dream achieved.

"We don't have adequate medical facilities, proper streets or sewage systems and there's nowhere for youth to recreate," explains a chai seller, 56, who migrated from southern India in 1982. "The single option is to tear it all down and construct proper housing."

Community Resistance

But others, like the leather artisan, are fighting against the project.

None deny that Dharavi, consistently overlooked as unauthorized settlement, is in stark need investment and development. Yet they worry that this initiative – without public consultation – might transform a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into an elite enclave, forcing out the marginalized, immigrant populations who have been there since generations ago.

This involved these shunned, migrant workers who established the vacant wetlands into a widely studied marvel of local enterprise and business activity, whose production is worth between one million dollars and $2m per year, making it one of the world's largest unofficial markets.

Resettlement Issues

Among approximately a million people living in the dense 2.2 square kilometer area, fewer than half will be qualified for replacement housing in the redevelopment, which is estimated to take seven years to finish. Additional residents will be transferred to barren areas and salt plains on the far outskirts of the city, potentially fragment a historic neighborhood. Certain individuals will not get residences at all.

People eligible to continue living in the area will be provided units in multi-story structures, a substantial change from the organic, shared lifestyle of living and working that has sustained this area for many years.

Businesses from tailoring to clay work and material recovery are likely to reduce in scale and be transferred to a designated "industrial sector" far from people's residences.

Survival Challenge

For those such as the leather artisan, a leather artisan and long-time of his family to live in this community, the project presents a fundamental risk. His rickety, multi-level operation creates leather coats – tailored coats, premium outerwear, fashionable garments – distributed in high-end shops in south Mumbai and internationally.

Relatives lives in the accommodations below and laborers and sewers – migrants from north India – live on-site, permitting him to sustain operations. Away from this community, Mumbai rents are frequently significantly costlier for minimal space.

Harassment and Intimidation

Within the government offices in the vicinity, an illustrated mock-up of the transformation initiative shows a very different perspective. Slickly dressed people mill about on cycles and e-vehicles, purchasing continental bread and pastries and socializing on a terrace outside a coffee shop and dessert parlor. This represents a complete departure from the 20-rupee idli sambar first meal and low-cost tea that maintains the neighborhood.

"This represents no development for our community," states Shaikh. "This constitutes a huge real estate deal that will make it unaffordable for us to survive."

There is also distrust of the development company. Headed by an influential industrialist – among the country's wealthiest and an associate of the national leader – the business group has faced accusations of crony capitalism and ethical concerns, which it denies.

While the state government calls it a joint project, the developer invested a significant amount for its majority share. A case alleging that the redevelopment was unfairly awarded to the corporation is being considered in the nation's highest judicial body.

Ongoing Pressure

Since they began to vocally oppose the project, protesters and community members claim they have been experienced an extended period of coercion and warning – including communications, direct threats and insinuations that criticizing the development was equivalent to anti-national sentiment – by people they claim represent the corporate group.

Part of the group suspected of issuing the threats is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c